Farmer Mac $1 Billion Transaction Takes Guarantee Volume Above $8 Billion, a New Record
20 April 2007 - 7:15AM
PR Newswire (US)
WASHINGTON, April 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Federal
Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) (NYSE: AGM; AGM.A)
announced today its guarantee of $1 billion of 10-year Notes, which
increased its total guarantee volume above $8 billion for the first
time. This transaction is part of Farmer Mac's ongoing "AgVantage"
program, in which it guarantees the timely payment of principal and
interest on Notes issued by a trust and secured by the corporate
obligation of an agricultural mortgage lender, in turn secured by
agricultural mortgages. The Notes issued today are rated Aaa, AAA
and AAA, by Moody's Investors Service, Inc., Fitch Ratings Inc. and
DBRS, Inc., respectively, and are secured by an obligation of
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as the agricultural mortgage
lender. The transaction was substantially the same as the $500
million Farmer Mac Guaranteed Notes offering that closed in January
2006 and the $1 billion Farmer Mac Guaranteed Notes offering that
closed in July 2006. Farmer Mac President and Chief Executive
Officer Henry D. Edelman stated, "This transaction significantly
advances Farmer Mac's congressional mission to provide greater
liquidity to agricultural mortgage lenders. It is the latest result
of Farmer Mac's ongoing diversification of its marketing focus, as
described in previous press releases and SEC filings." The
transaction was an offering pursuant to Rule 144A under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, only to U.S. and non-U.S.
qualified institutional buyers. The Notes have not been and will
not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 or any state
securities laws. The Notes may only be reoffered, sold or
transferred pursuant to Rule 144A to qualified institutional buyers
and an exemption from applicable state securities laws. This press
release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation
of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the Notes in any
jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be
unlawful. Farmer Mac is a stockholder-owned instrumentality of the
United States chartered by Congress to establish a secondary market
for agricultural real estate and rural housing mortgage loans and
to facilitate capital market funding for USDA-guaranteed farm
program and rural development loans. Farmer Mac's Class C
non-voting and Class A voting common stocks are listed on the New
York Stock Exchange under the symbols AGM and AGM.A, respectively.
Additional information about Farmer Mac is available on the
Corporation's website at http://www.farmermac.com/. DATASOURCE:
Farmer Mac CONTACT: Mary K. Waters of Farmer Mac, +1-202-872-7700
Web site: http://www.farmermac.com/
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